It was just another ordinary day until I got Lindsey Yeskoo’s comment on my blog post, Ordinary Days. I don’t cry much anymore after all I’ve been through, but there I was in the Tim Horton’s, with my 5 year old Gracie suddenly dropping her jumbo Smarties and chocolate chip cookie (a rare occurrence indeed) to ask me, “Mommy, are you crying?” Yep. You see, Lindsey is the mom of Emily Elizabeth Anne, who was 10 years old when she was diagnosed with MLD, a fatal neuro-degenerative disease that has almost completely destroyed the white matter in her brain (leaving her unable to walk, talk, or eat, but with her brain intact). She was told she would not live to be 13, but is now 20. ”My Story” on Emily’s Caring Bridge site starts with the words “don’t be afraid.” Toronto’s first children’s hospice, Emily’s House (562 Gerrard St. East, at Broadview and Gerrard), is named for her and is set to open this July after more than $7 million was raised to fund it. It is an extraordinary resource for children and their loving and exhausted families, who are facing the unimaginable. Thank you, Emily and Lindsey!

After reading Emily Yeskoo’s story, I did the only thing I could do. We picked up Gracie’s new bike at the bike shop, drove home, and then went for our first ride with her big sister, our Emily. Ten minutes in, Gracie announced that she was bored and wanted to try “a bigger street”, and I cherished just another ordinary day.